BP announces disagreement with court decision denying injunction

4th Mar 2014 09:42

BP has released a statement announcing its disagreement with the decision by the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit denying the company's request for a permanent injunction to prevent certain payments under the Economic and Property Damages Settlement reached in 2012. The oil giant had asked the court to prevent payments to business economic loss (BEL) claimants, whose alleged injuries "are not traceable" to the Deepwater Horizon accident and oil spill. BP said it believes that such BEL claimants "are not proper class members under the terms of the settlement" and is considering its appellate options. The group explained that the judges on the panel were split three ways, with two voting to affirm the District Court and deny permanent injunctive relief, but without agreeing in all respects on a rationale. "By denying the relief BP requested, however, BP believes that today's decision will improperly allow for the payment of losses with no connection to the spill," the statement read. "BP further believes that unless this problem is fully corrected, the settlement cannot be upheld under the law. BP has accordingly already sought en banc rehearing of the January 2014 decision by a separate panel of the Fifth Circuit upholding the validity of the settlement." A decision on the rehearing petition has yet to be released. The group has already secured a favourable ruling in the courts regarding the matching of revenues and expenses in calculating BEL claims. In December 2013, the District Court reversed its prior rulings and held that the Court Supervised Settlement Program (CSSP) would have to ensure that claimants' reported revenues and expenses were correctly matched when determining awards under the settlement. Under the terms of the most recent decision, the injunction temporarily suspending the issue of final determination notices and payments of all BEL claims was vacated. The injunction will be lifted once the case is transferred back to the District Court, the timing of which may be affected by a potential filing by BP of a petition requesting a rehearing of the decision. BP shares slipped 0.12% to 492.29p by mid-morning. NR